IAIN JENKINS spoke at St John’s High in Dundee, one of seven schools in the SFA's programme designed to unearth the future stars of the Scottish game.

Jenkins, left, and ex-Killie boss Kenny Shiels coach at St John's as they try to find the next Dalglish or Strachan (Photo: Alan Richardson)

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IT’S fitting an old laundry room inside St John’s High in Dundee is the base for a Scottish football revolution.

Scouser and SFA’s elite performance coach Iain Jenkins uses it as the room where he plots his task of churning out a fresh stream of talent for the next generation.

St John’s is one of seven schools in the Scottish FA’s £15million Performance Strategy programme and oversees the intake of around a dozen kids a year from the east of Scotland before they reach their teens.

Former St Mirren assistant boss Jenkins admits his job is to unearth a few diamonds by combining ball skills, diet and conditioning with core subjects such as English and maths.

He said: “It’s about discovering that jewel and it’s starting to happen.

“There will always be prophets of doom and others will have complaints about performance schools. All I would ask is people give it time. I have been down to look at the academies at Under-14 and U-15 level and we have better young players in Scotland.

“So it’s about being patient and SFA performance director Mark Wotte has said it’s going to be a long process and it’s about looking ahead to 2020.

“I get my joy out of watching these kids flourishing and wanting to come in, work hard and get a ball at their feet.”

Daily sessions at the Dundee school start at the crack of dawn and include girls and boys who work to a detailed programme combined to balance coaching and studies.

Jenkins added: “There are no guarantees just because these kids are with clubs and are in the performance set-up they’re going to make it.

“We want to deliver through the performance programme the best chance for the best kids to receive more football minutes every day of the week. The bottom line is to let them play more football.

“When Mark Wotte came in he felt that’s what we were missing. It’s about giving the kids more football minutes during the curriculum and not many countries are doing that.

“I’ve set up our school as a mini-academy, the kids have either single or double periods of coaching every day of their school week with me.

“The gym is open from 7.30 in the morning and we do the strength, conditioning and flexibility work.

“They will train in the morning or afternoon whether that will be a skills session or strength and conditioning.

“I have two girls in my first year group and the rest in first and second year are boys.

“They are signed with the likes of Dundee United, St Johnstone, Dundee and the girls are with Forfar and Jeanfield Swifts.”

Cultural changes have been blamed for football’s decline in mastering the basics and Jenkins, who has played for the likes of Everton and Dundee United, insists it can be reversed.

He said: “When I was a kid we used to kick a ball against a wall and do keepie-ups and stuff.

“It didn’t matter whether it was snowing or raining but we need to start thinking outside the box to replicate that.”

Skilled coaching, nutrition, hydration, video analysis, recovery processes, strength and conditioning are all part of a programme which Jenkins is adamant will soon bear fruit.

He added: “Kenny Dalglish and Gordon Strachan weren’t six-foot players so it’s not all about strength. But the game has moved on so you have to add a physical side to it.

“Two of my players were down a Manchester United a few months ago so the schools are starting to attract the interest of the top teams.”